Word: defend
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...powers are not extensively spelled out in the Constitution, Wilson argued that there was an implicit presidential "reservoir of power with respect to foreign intelligence, foreign leaks, this sort of thing." That was inherent, for instance, in the President's sworn duty "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution," Wilson said, adding the words of a Supreme Court decision: "Implicit in that duty is the power to protect our Government against those who would subvert or overthrow it by unlawful means...
...government's nuclear armament policy last week, Admiral Marc de Joybert, naval chief of staff, haughtily told the bishop in an open letter to Le Figaro: "Take care of your own onions. Your job, Monsignor, is to teach the faith and spread charity. Our role is to defend France." For the time being at least, the French public seemed more concerned with the battle between the bishop and the admiral than with the contaminated winds sweeping the Pacific...
...defeat," he wrote in his second column, "but it was developing into one, and the President moved in the nick of time." This early misjudgment launched Safire on a string of lurches and pratfalls as the Watergate story dragged him steadily downhill. There was Safire listening to his mother defend the President's integrity while she dished up bowls of steaming chicken soup ("My God," said one Timesman opposed to Safire's hiring, "we've got a dozen better chicken-soup men"). There was Safire claiming ultimate victory for Nixon after John Dean testified before the Ervin...
Looking back over his first 3½ months on the job, Safire thinks that he has made the best of a bad situation: "If I defend the President, I'm an apologist. If I attack him, I'm a traitor. If I ignore the whole thing, I'm a cop-out." Deservedly known as a wit and wordsmith during his years as an Administration speechwriter, Safire has kept his sense of humor throughout the ordeal, although his neologisms ("presibuster" for the Ervin hearings, "probephiliacs" for those investigating Watergate) are shorter on style than many of his admirers...
...doesn't someone defend Nixon for trying, if he did, to "cover up" Watergate? What duty does he have to advertise a scandal to the wide, wide world...